Pellegrini: “Man City will win Champions League” Coral assess how and when

There is no doubting the quality of Man City’s squad, though to compare it to recent Barcelona winning sides, both in terms of personnel and style, would be naive.

Under Luis Enrique last season, Barca didn’t exactly win with the same style as previous seasons, when they re-propagated the ‘tiki taka’ and were so successful. Subtle changes from Enrique made them slightly more dynamic last term, with an emphasis in varying the speed of their play, often dictated by all-star front three Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, arguably the best forward force in football.

City are some way off. Currently, only Sergio Aguero can be considered to be anywhere near that bracket, so he needs players of a similar calibre and goalscoring talent playing alongside him if the club are going to conquer Europe.

They also need a deep-lying playmaker just like Barca had Xavi Hernandez. While Yaya Toure and Fernandinho are very good, the pair are more robust and direct. Someone in the same vein as Real Madrid’s former Spurs star Luka Modric would be ideal, though whether there is anyone who is at that standard and can occupy that role remains to be seen.

The supply of these kind of players seem to have declined in recent years, with attacking versions more and more widespread. City have a number of this new breed already at their disposal, with summer signing Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Samir Nasri.

Whether Raheem Sterling can make the jump to the highest level in the coming years is a question not even Pellegrini could probably answer. Any future world-class players may have to be bought and developed, instead of acquired tailor-made, like, arguably Aguero was.

Another ingredient that made Barca so successful, was the tenacious Carles Puyol, who was also one of the most positionally aware centre backs of his generation, while his ability to cover ground in short bursts when needed also suited the Catalans’ style of play.

Whether the club do win the Champions League in the coming years (14/1 this term with Coral) is one for debate, though to do it in the same fashion of Barca means they have work to do.